Low Carb Program reaches more than eight million people

A national campaign to raise awareness of the Low Carb Program has reached more than eight million people.

Over the course of five days The Sun newspaper issued pull outs about the award-winning programme, which was developed by Diabetes Digital Media (DDM).

The content contained easy recipes, expert advice and inspirational stories from people who have followed the Low Carb Program.

Virgin Radio, which welcomed breakfast presenter Chris Evans to the station in January, also promoted the programme on air over the course of the five days.

The mission is to ‘eat to beat’ type 2 diabetes and kick the condition into remission.

The Sun, last year dubbed UK’s favourite daily newspaper, has a daily readership of 7.9m people which includes its online audience.

Virgin attracts around 1 million people a week to its airwaves.

Starting with the science

Earlier this year, the American Diabetes Association published Nutrition Therapy for Adults With Diabetes or Prediabetes: A Consensus Report in which it was confirmed that “reducing overall carbohydrate intake for individuals with diabetes has demonstrated the most evidence for improving glycemia and may be applied in a variety of eating patterns that meet individual needs and preferences.”

Pioneering health outcomes

Peer-reviewed research outcomes published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research in 2018 have proven that the Low Carb Program is effective in improving glycaemic control, weight loss and reducing hypoglycaemic medications in patients with type 2 diabetes.

The paper evaluated the one-year outcomes of 1,000 people in the UK who engaged in the Low Carb Program. At one-year, the average member who completes the program loses 7.4kg and reduces their HbA1c by 1.2%. The study demonstrated 39% of patients lower their HbA1c below the threshold for a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes. Additionally, 40% of people eliminate at least one medication from their treatment regime and one in four people place their type 2 diabetes into remission.

Redefining type 2 diabetes management

The Low Carb Program has disrupted and redefined the landscape of type 2 diabetes management, with Dr Campbell Murdoch, Chief Medical Officer at DDM leading the authorship of a Demedication Protocol in the BJGP earlier in July as a direct response to the thousands of patients within the platform.

The Low Carb Program app is available via the NHS Apps Library and has been approved to meet NHS quality standards for safety, usability and accessibility. It also has QISMET approval for all programme streams meaning it can be prescribed on the NHS.

Earlier this year, the Low Carb Program was selected by the NHS Innovation Accelerator, to scale type 2 diabetes remission within primary care. The NHS Innovation Accelerator works to scale high impact, evidence-based innovations across the NHS and wider healthcare system to adopt initiatives to support the NHS Long Term Plan.

For information and advice about providing free access to your patients through the NHS, click here.